"I'LL SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL KNIGHT!"

Michael woke with a start. It was one in the morning. He was reliving Evelyn threatening him with a gun earlier that day in his nightmare. Michael didn't want to go back to sleep.

He noticed his watch was buzzing on his bed side table. He put it on and waved his hand over it.

It was the Blacklist app.

"Yo Knight! There's a race with your name on it! Can you make it to Kempton Square rn"- Nebulae.

It was recent, Michael supposed that was what had woken him up.

It was a Monday night. Why the hell would they need to do blacklist runs?

"I'm have school tomorrow, sorry."- Knight

"Come on! If you win it's a special prize!" -Nebulae

"Whats the prize?"- Knight

"You'll have to show up to find out!"-Nebulae

Michael then remembered these kinds of things were traps in the movies.

"Hang on a sec, how do I know you aren't gonna sick the cops on me, or Rob me or frame me or some shit. How many credits do I get when I win? -Knight

"Just come to the damn race, you can trust her!"- Rouge

"Uhhh. Ok."- Knight.

Michael trusted Shiga, so he decided to take then up on the offer. He rolled out of bed, and snuck over to his closet, put on a black T-shirt and jeans, and grabbed his leather jacket from it's perch on the door. He put on some socks he found on the floor, and carefully snuck past Michelle's door. He passed his father's room where he heard snoring. They weren't gonna wake up no matter how much noise he made, so he relaxed and headed into the kitchen.

Michael grabbed the keys to the Skyline from the kitchen table, and pushed through the front door.

He didn't know why he was doing it. Maybe because he thought Nebulae was hot? No no no you have a crush on Amelia, Michael, he thinks to himself.

He snuck into the barn, unlocked the Skyline, got in, realized he was on the wrong side because JDM, then got out and got in on the other side. He started the car and gingerly drove away from the farm, headlights off. As soon as he got on the road to Palmont, he switched on the lights and nailed the gas, letting the Skyline scream it's twin turbo fury into the night.

*******

Michael arrived in Kempton Square, a small park in between some abandoned sky scrapers. It was very run down and spooky looking at night, the buildings being over run with vines as nature retook the abandoned sector of the city. The only people that lived here were the very poor and criminals. There was a large green flare spewing sparks and ash into the sky.

Michael parked the Skyline in the middle of the clearing. He got out and sat on the hood, put on his sunglasses, then he waved his hand over his watch.

"K, I'm here, what's going on?" -Knight

"Look up." - Nebulae

Michael did. He heard helicopter blades, and then 4 cargo helicopters descended from the sky, each carrying a metal container by their magnet. They gingerly dropped the containers side by side, and flew away.

Michael heard a clicking sound and all the containers opened one by one.

Inside each one was a car.

In the first one, there was a bright purple Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, a rally style sedan. It had been heavily modified, with a carbon fiber hood, gaudy custom body kit, massive carbon fibre spoiler, widened fenders, and a set of massive chrome rims. It also was covered in several white decals for various brands.

In the second container, there was a lemon yellow Lamborghini Murcielago, a wedge shape mid engined super car. It was fitted with a small spoiler and subtle carbon body kit. It too had massive chrome wheels, and several sponsor decals.

In the third container there was a shiny red first generation Cadillac Escalade SUV, with various chrome accents and again, massive chrome wheels. It sits extremely low to the ground, and has a large boxy body.

Finally in the fourth container, there was a Suzuki Hayabusa, a large rounded super bike with a custom carbon fiber body and chrome wheels.

"Go on,you pick first Baby Driver."

Michael jumped. Nebulae emerged from behind one of the containers, casually chewing gum, in her full motorcycle leathers and high heeled boots.

"Could you explain what's exactly going on here?"

"Buisness. We've got to get these beauties to the buyer across town in Silverton in less than a couple hours. Oh and don't scratch them! The tech in these DUB edition cars is worth a fortune!"

"Who's the buyer?"

"I can't say. "

"Why me?"

"Rouge said he was busy and I broke Wall Street's arm at the bar on Friday after he got a little too handsy. What a fuckin pussy, said he couldn't drive one handed. Anyways I needed a fourth driver and you were the only one who seemed fast enough."

"Ohhhh..."

"So basically, we're gonna race there and the winner is the one that gets the second biggest cut from the payment for the delivery part of the job. And the special prize is... ah I'll tell you when we get there."

Michael frowned. Something felt fishy about this whole operation.

"Go on, choose a ride I'm waiting!"

Michael paced back and forth. The Evo wasn't exactly his style, plus he had already driven the Skyline, which was a similar car. The Hayabusa looked the fastest from what Michael had heard about superbikes, but he had never ridden a bike before, and trying something that exposed that was capable of 200+ miles an hour would be suicide. The Escalade was admittedly intriguing, Michael imagined it would be quite comfortable, but again it wasn't his style and would be slow and heavy.

But then Michael's eyes fell on the Lamborghini. A red blooded Italian supercar, light weight, all wheel drive, naturally aspirated V12 engine, mid engined layout, it was something he hadn't experienced before. It was something Michael wouldn't have the opportunity to experience again...

"Fuck it. I'm taking the Lambo."

"Damn you. I wanted it. Oh well, I'll take the bike." Nebulae says. She zips up her jacket and puts her long brown hair in a bun. Michael noticed she had two gun holsters complete with two laser pistols right before her jacket closed.

Right. Don't fuck with her, Michael thought.

"Catch."

Michael caught a simple key fob, a plastic key with a gold engraving of a charging bull.

He double tapped the unlocking button, and the Murcielago fires up, it V12 engine letting out a chilling howl. It scissor doors open upwards, like wings on an insect. Michael realized he was grinning. He carefully stepped towards the car. It was wide, and wedge shaped, with sharp lines and angular vents. This car was designed to slice though the air like a knife, and was wide so it could accommodate wide tires. A machine built purely to convert gasoline into speed.

Michael gingerly slid into the drivers side of the car. He found it difficult to get in due to the car's low ride height. The heavily customized interior was small and a bit uncomfortable, but it had a sense of quality about it, with alcantara trim, a carbon fiber dashboard, racing bucket seats and a custom steering wheel with what looked like an Xbox controller's worth of buttons on it.

Michael put his hand on the metal gated shifter. This car had a proper gated manual gearbox. Michael gingerly put the car in gear, and pulled out of the container slowly. This car felt like some sort of noble beast, not a machine. The clutch felt heavy, the steering felt stiff, yet responsive.

Michael wanted to savor this moment, he was driving a real super car.

He carefully inched the car out of the clearing and into the street. Nebulae pulled alongside him on the Hayabusa. She blue one last bubble with her gum, and spit it out.

"How much power does she make?" Michael asked after rolling down the window, grinning as he listened to the V12 engine idle behind him.

"This one doesn't have much mods engine wise, it has a race intake and exhaust and a quick ECU flash. I'd say about 680 maybe? But it weighs nothing, and the transmission and suspension mods will make it handle like a dream."

"So when do we race?"

"Hold the fuck on, we're waiting on everyone else! What did you think this was, a Touge run? You ask too many goddamn questions..."

As if on cue, two more cars came screaming around the corner parking next to them. One was a silver second generation Chrysler 300, which had been lowered, de badged, and fitted with massive chrome rims. The other was a bright orange 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge, but it had several body modifications to make it look like a modern car, and massive chrome wheels. Two men in black clothes and ski masks stepped out from each.

Nebulae stood up from the bike, suddenly red faced with rage.

"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU FOUR IDIOTS BEEN! THE KID I HIRED JUST NOW GOT HERE EARLIER THAN YOU USELESS FUCKS! LINE UP AT THE STARTING LINE WITH THE OTHER TWO CARS OR ILL WELD YOUR ASSHOLES SHUT AND MAKE A NEW ONE ON YOUR HEADS!"

"Alright boss! Security was a real bitch at that place!"

"I DONT REMEMBER ASKIN YOU A GODDAMN THING!"

Ok, definitely don't fuck with her, Michael thought.

One man hopped into each of the remaining cars. The Escalade lined up next to Michael, the 300 next to Nebulae, and the GTO and the EVO alongside the 300.

"Alright boys, listen up! I've picked out a very specific set of checkpoints that you must hit in the correct order, if you miss one or get too far away from them, the cars will automatically shut off, so don't even think about stealing 'em! However, the route you take between checkpoints is completely up to you, because it'll keep us split up so the cops can't track us."

Nebulae put her helmet on, and typed something in on her watch, and Michael's watch projected an all too familiar heads up display of a map of the city, marked with several checkpoints on the Lamborghini's windscreen.

"Alright, time to talk about the extras on these babies. First up? Fusionite composite armor. Spray on armor that makes the body 100% bulletproof, it's also somewhat impact resistant. But the main reason the buyer is paying us a couple hundred thousand for this job. See those buttons on the steering wheel? Those trigger your Callahan NextTech air suspension and hydraulics. Pressing the A button activates the jump function, it uses the extremely powerful force from the hydraulics extending to allow the car to hop in the air about 10 feet. Steering while firing this will adjust the direction of the jump. You can use this jump over Autocabs and walls. The B button will activate the Weight Transfer function, it will balance the car on two wheels on the direction you steer, so you can fit through smaller gaps. The C button will raise the suspension several inches, letting you go off-road easier. Finally, the D button triggers the other gadget. The Roar! It sends a message over the network that makes the Autocabs pull over. It has a 30 second recharge after you use it, so be save it for when you need it."

Nebulae started her bike, it's tiny engine screaming into the night.

"Oh, and did I mention, the E button? That's the Pneumatic Power Assist. It fires compressed oxygen collected from the air into the intake manifold. It's extremely powerful, and really makes a lot of heat, so you can only use it 3 times before the ECU locks it out so the car can cool, but fire that and the car easily more than doubles its horsepower for about 5 seconds. "

Michael turned over the function of each button in his head, taking everything to memory. He didn't really know why the cars needed these special features, none of them seemed practical in a racing situation.

"Right. Ready?"

The heads up display lit up.

The cars revved, the V8s in the Escalade, GTO and 300 letting out a thunderous bellow, the turbocharged in-line 4 in the Evo bleating, the bikes engine screaming, and the Murcielago's V12 howling.

3...

2...

1...

Go!

Michael dumped the clutch and the Lamborghini shoots forward, it's heavenly engine sounding like a mechanical chorus of angels. It's all wheel drive launch gives it a huge advantage, Michael taking an early lead off the line.

Foot to the floor, lift, clutch, up shift, floor it, clutch up shift...

Nebulae pulls alongside of him, leaning forward on the Hayabusa, slowly pulling ahead of him.

Michael checked the map, it was a mile down the road, straight ahead.

Might as well tests one of the gadgets, right?

He took a deep breath, and pressed the E button. Michael heard a sharp hissing noise behind him and then the engine screamed louder, all four tires losing traction and the car rockets forwards, bright white flames shooting from the Lamborghini's twin shotgun exhaust pipes. Michael felt like he was being fired out of a cannon, the car was skidding from side to side, this was too much power!

Michael gritted his teeth and kept his foot to the floor, shifting up to sixth gear. He felt like the space time continuum was bending around him as the car accelerated at impossible speed. The tachometer rushes towards redline, the digital speedometer reading 260 miles per hour, nearly the world record for the fastest production car in the world!

The streetlights outside the cars windows blurred into a line of light. Michael's neck hurt from the force, he was using every ounce of his strength to keep the car straight. He noticed the yellow flare of the checkpoint closing in fast. He realized he would have to make a turn at the next intersection in order to get the fastest route to the next checkpoint, so he let off the gas and slammed on the brakes, and now Michael is pulled forwards in his seat, he felt like his eyeballs were going to be ripped out of his sockets as the car slowed and skidded. He pushed on the brakes harder and heard tire squeal, the car must not have anti lock brakes, and the wheels had locked up. He eased off the brakes, and steered into the corner at a comfortable speed.

The Lamborghini didn't turn into the corner, it darted towards the apex. With its engine mounted towards the center of the car instead of the front, it allowed the car to change direction extremely quickly, the car barely understeered at all.

Michael passed the checkpoint flare by, and his watch played a quite wooshing sound effect.

This was the best handling car he had ever driven, by far. It's combination of power, traction and agility was second to nothing he had driven so far... And the sound, the heavenly noise! The engines cry echoed throughout the city, a warning to all the raging bull had been freed.

Michael decided his next car, if he ever got one, would be mid engined, like this one.

Michael checked the rearview mirror, and noticed several pairs of headlights close to him.

The growl of a V8 sang in harmony with the Murcielago's V12. The orange GTO was pulling alongside him.

"956 horsepower kid, hope you like my taillights, cuz that's all you're gonna see!" It's driver said as he passed

Michael ducked into the GTO's slipstream, just as he heard the bleat of a turbo 4 behind him.

"755 Bhp for me!"

Michael realized his car was probably the slowest on the straights, but it was the best handling and most agile. He kept his foot to the floor as the GTO started to pull away, the speedometer already reading 200 miles per hour.

The next corner was up ahead, a direction change on to a street to avoid an empty park.

The GTO and Evo braked slightly, but Michael trusted this car.

It had the grip.

He kept his foot firmly to the floor, and gently guided the steering into the corner, the G-Forces shoving Michael against the bolstering of his racing seat. The car was sticking and turning in, but it was starting to wash out wide from all wheel drive understeer.

He remembered what he had seen from his first race against the Porsche Cayman.

He eased off the throttle, letting the weight transfer to the front tires, then nailed the gas, and the car entered a graceful powerslide at more than 220 miles per hour.

Michael carefully countersteered in the direction of the drift, and the car eased back into grip when he got on the next straight, leaving the Evo and the GTO in the dust.

He rounded the next turn around the park, a sharp right, with a quick tap on the brakes and a downshift.

Michael was in Nirvana. This car was damn near perfect, and he was racing it beyond it's limits, he wished this race would never end.

When he got on the next straight, he saw a two pairs of taillights slide out in front of him all of a sudden.

Michael panicked and slammed on the brakes, and realized it was the 300 and the Escalade.

He noticed mud, grass and dirt on their paint, and both car's ride heights seemed unnaturally high.

Of course, they must have raised their suspensions to cut through the park!

Michael muttered a curse under his breath.

Remember to watch for shortcuts!

Both rivals lowered their cars simultaneously.

"Bye bye dudes!" The driver of the Escalade shouted, and Michael saw its 4 exhaust tips spit orange flames, and the heavy SUV snarled off into the distance.

Michael didn't want to risk using his remaining two uses of PPA, so he grimaced as his opponent pulled away from him...

Only to abruptly slow down to swerve around a massive herd of AutoCabs.

Michael seized his opportunity, and pressed the D button and floored the accelerator, and sure enough the AutoCabs pulled over to the side of the road, and he caught right up to the Escalade, gaining on him towards the next corner, a sudden hairpin into an alleyway shortcut.

The Escalade brakes hard and clumsily drifts into the corner, while Michael drifts in tandem with it on the outside line. As they speed towards the alley way, the Murcielago's better acceleration allows Michael to pull directly alongside.

But the alley is only wide enough for one car!

Michael wasn't going to back off, he had a plan.

He kept his foot planted on the gas then steered left while pressing the B button, and the Michael felt a sharp hiss.

His view of the world turned sideways, he felt a sense of vertigo as as one side window showed angle of the sky and the other showed a view of of the Asphalt inches from his face.

The Lamborghini was driving on two wheels, it's suspension angled on one side to allow the car to balance itself perfectly.

The Murcielago and the Escalade entered the alley way side by side.

Michael could feel the in air tires of the Murcielago graze the sides of the building, and a soon as they got back on the open road, Michael pressed the B button again and the car lands on all fours.

They head past the next checkpoint and next to some DriveNet AutoTram tracks down a long straight. Michael pulls away from the pack, only to see the Evo blast up next to him with the pneumatic power assist, purple flames spewing from it's massive 3 inch race exhaust pipe, followed by the 300 who also fired his boost, blasting blue flames from its twin custom side pipes.

Michael ducked into slipstream of the 300 as it passed both of them slowly, then the Evo passed him. The rounded the next turn, Michael overtaking the pair of them under braking, He exits on to the straight in the lead.

Michael realized he hadn't seen Nebulae.

He began to wonder if she had crashed or something.

Shit.

What